Louder Than The Music

When I found out LZ7 were appearing in Cardiff on their Light Tour, to say I was very excited is an understatement. Regular readers of this website will know I have been championing this band ever since they released the amazing 'Light' album last October. They won an unprecedented three trophies at the LTTM Awards 2010 and their first single, 'This Little Light' entered the UK mainstream charts at number 26, resulting in huge exposure for the band as lead singer Lindz West explains: "Our heart's desire in releasing the single was to give us a bigger platform to speak to more young people about Jesus. It's done exactly that! We are finding that as we go into school after school young people are recognising us from MTV. That level of credibility is going before us so the young people know the songs and know who we are even before we get there. It's another level entirely!".



With the Cardiff gig being an event tied in with Ignite Hope Local, this was the perfect opportunity to bring friends to hear the gospel of Jesus sung and talked by this amazing Hip Hop band. For those who don't know, Ignite Hope Local is run by Big Ideas which is based in Cardiff. It's a social action event where the local Churches can impact their community by doing social action events or projects to show the people of their local community God's love. 



Our local church decided to run a fun day in an estate. The day started early for us so we could see what the clouds above us were going to do. Thankfully after a few text messages back and forward the go ahead was given and the set up of the fun day went ahead. It was all hands on deck to try and get everything ready in time. With games, face painting, a swap shop and many others things going on the whole day was a great success, and hopefully as it was called a 'fun day' everyone who came along had a fun day. 

I headed home as I knew I had to be back in an hour to pick up a large group of youth to take them to the LZ7 event. Even with a little bit of tiredness slowly building in, the excitement of a great event and the prospect of seeing the best Hip Hop group around at the moment gave us all an adrenaline rush.

There is always something exciting about live events, no matter who you are seeing live. The experience of great music and a great light show is one that really gets your blood pumping.

 Once in the venue it wasn't long until the first act of the night made and appearance. Getting the crowd warmed up was the rapper Ad-Apt, who played through a few songs from his new EP. I was impressed with the sounds this guy was making and can't wait to find out more about this very talented guy, keep checking LTTM for more info on this guy.



Before we could all catch our breathe it was time for another artist I was very much looking forward to hearing. I have been really excited about seeing Guvna B live since I reviewed his free album 'Scrapbook'. If Ad-Apt had warmed the crowd up, Guvna B took it to another level with his catchy beats and stunning vocals ringing out and the crowd really enjoying hearing the songs Guvna B decided to sing to us. Check this guy out.



By this time I was sweating after dancing, jumping and grooving to the beats of Guvna B and Ad-Apt, and after getting a bottle of water I was ready to get into the main event LZ7 took to the stage with a bang, if you haven't seen or heard of LZ7 before, they are a high energy, hip hop/dance group, and from the moment the band took to the stage we were on a high energy journey.



The band played a large majority of the songs from their amazing album 'Light'. Some of the highlights for me personally were hearing Greatest Day the amazing, and I mean amazing, Four Points and Ditto. It was a great evening dancing with great mates, building up a sweat in worship to Jesus. LZ7 know how to really get people in the party mood and they did it tonight in Cardiff. With fast high energy beats pounding out of the venue LZ7 blew the roof off tonight. Frontman Lindz really had everyone up for it and he got everyone going for it.



Of course one of the amazing things that LZ7 do is give the gospel message through their music and also in a small yet powerful slot in the middle of the set, with Lindz sharing his testimony. This gave an opportunity for people to respond to becoming a Christian, amazing stuff.



It wouldn't have been right if the band didn't finish their set with their big single 'This Little Light'. A great little number and as one reviewer once said "This is one catchy song that once you hear I know you will be singing all day". We as a group all left the event singing that song well into the night on our way home.



A very tiring day, but one I would do any day of the week, to see a community brought closer together and then an amazing gig in the night, what a great day. With their being an even bigger Cardiff Ignite Hope 2012 next year I for one am already looking forward to what is going to happen next year. Bring on May 2012.

Jono